


Til Death Do Us Part

by good_mythical_miles



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Death, M/M, Paranormal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-27 01:05:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5027767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/good_mythical_miles/pseuds/good_mythical_miles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A particularly dark episode of Good Mythical More seems strangely prophetic--a fatal car accident happens the very next morning, destroying lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Til Death Do Us Part

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by a few different things:
> 
> The song Ghost Story by Charming Disaster  
> The song A Friend in California by Merle Haggard  
> GMMore: “Link’s Funeral Tape.”

Good Mythical Morning’s topic for that day was “10 Things You Didn’t Know Were Named After People.” Both Rhett and Link were in extremely high spirits during the main episode, with giggles and stupid jokes peppered throughout.

As Good Mythical More began, after admitting to occasionally wearing make-up for filming, Link began to keep going with his list of products named after people. The first on his list was General Tso’s Chicken, but the second one happened to be Tootsie Rolls. Rhett had always hated the way Link pronounced this and immediately called him out on it. The two men got into a light-hearted argument, which resulted in Link pulling up a video of an old commercial for the candy. Lo and behold, Rhett was right, and Link was wrong.

Becoming extremely defensive, Link started what would soon be the topic that took over the rest of the video. “Here’s the thing, guys. One day I’m gonna die. And then you’re gonna play this video back. ‘…That Link, too bad he’s gone. Because he’s been vanquished!’”

Naturally, Rhett went along. “Well, he was wrong about Tootsie.”

“Well if this is gonna be played at my funeral, let me take full advantage of the situation. I want—“

“Don’t make this your funeral tape, man.” Rhett already felt like this was going too far.

“Hey guys! Thanks for showin’ up!”

“Golly, this could, I mean, this could be…You could die young and this could be really sad or you can die as an old man and this would be really funny.”

“Listen, if I’m young and I’ve died, this…this is difficult. But, you know what?”

“Oh man, think about it!”

“But, we have to—“

“The ironic tears that will be being shed right now.”

“We have to find a way to laugh through this.”

“Hm…” Rhett didn’t want to play along with this anymore. Thinking about holding Link’s funeral was making him uncomfortable.

“Okay. Let’s just move on. I’m havin’ trouble, too. I’m startin’ to get sad. Okay.”

“Oh, really!?”

“I’m dead, man! You’re not sad!?”

“Not here, now! Cause you’re not dead now. I’ll be sad then.”

“But you’ll be there?”

“Now, if we’re really old, this’ll be good stuff,” Rhett let out a chuckle.

“That’s not my point at all. My point is that TOOTsie is how people will be pronouncing it and I will be vindicated—“

“I highly doubt that.”

“—post-mortem.”

Rhett was about to continue when Jason piped in from behind the camera. “Why do you think Link’s gonna die first?”

Link turned his head and nodded slowly. “I will… I will.”

Rhett nodded as well. “He’s more accident prone.” This had always been the case.

“But it will be entertaining!” Link promised.

“When you die?” Rhett asked.

“Yep! That’s my final wish. Go out with a laugh.”

“Alright.” Rhett was really confused as to how they had gotten on this topic… Oh, right. Tootsie Rolls.

“Well, he did go out with a laugh…” Link pretended to be a grieving funeral-goer. “Boy, how sad is this!?”

He immediately switched topics, beginning to explain the origin of the name for Salisbury steaks instead. After that, the topic was granny smith apples.

Rhett, going back to the funeral joke, said, “Now everybody gets granny smith apples!”

“Right,” Link nodded.

“No, everybody gets granny smith apples. Now, you take your apple, you take a bite out of it, and you go up to the coffin, and you set it on top of it.”

“Is the coffin—hold on, the coffin’s open, dude!” Link practically yelled.

“Open casket! You set it on you!”

“Yeah! On me, right now.”

“So at the end it’s just Link’s face with all these apples with your bites,” Rhett chuckled.

“Half eaten apples?”

“And he’s gonna go into the afterlife with a bunch of rotten apples around him, and it’s gonna mummify him in a really weird way!”

After somehow deciding he wanted to have a Viking-style funeral, Link said he wanted to be pushed off of a waterfall and set on fire with a burning arrow. “Go pour gas on me, too! Don’t forget that!”

“I’m doing all this!” Rhett insisted, teasingly. “I’m doing all of this! Every bit of it, man!”

After another minute or so, Link decided to wrap it up. “So, just file out through the back, and uh… Just go to Denny’s or something! Just live it up, yanno?”

Just then, Jason signaled to the two men that he had stopped rolling. They were done for the day. “What the hell was that?” he asked.

“I have no idea,” Link shrugged. “Sorry about that.”

“That got pretty dark, guys,” Stevie added.

Everyone in the studio decided to say their goodbyes after some talk about the editing. As per usual, Link drove Rhett home.

As Rhett settled into his couch after having dinner and putting his kids to bed, he saw his phone light up on the counter. Link was calling him. “What’s up?”

“I miss you,” Link whispered breathlessly.

Just these three words alone were enough to turn Rhett on. He swallowed hard. It had been a while since their last affair. Well, their wives knew about their ‘get-togethers,’ so it wasn’t like they were cheating… They had set up an arrangement. The men had to be secretive, however, because they didn’t want their kids, their interns, other family members, or the fans to know about the true depth of their relationship.

“I know.”

“I want to feel you. All of you.”

“I know,” Rhett repeated.

“When can we be together again?”

To anybody else, it would have sounded like the two men hadn’t seen each other face to face in months. “I don’t know, Link.”

“Tomorrow?” he asked hopefully.

“Do you want to stay late?”

“Oh my God, yes. Yes, I do.”

Rhett smiled softly. “Alright, buddy. I love you.”

“I love you, too. Oh, and Rhett?”

“What is it?”

“If I do die soon—“

“Link, shut up.”

“I want you to keep my glasses.”

“What the fuck, man!?”

“Sorry.”

“Why would you say that?”

“I don’t know. Today’s GMMore just got me thinking.”

“Well, don’t. Not about that, at least. Have a good night, sweets.”

“Nighty night, Rhett.”

Rhett hung up the phone and sighed, shaking his head. He couldn’t wait for the next morning to see his best friend turned lover and give him a big hug. He hated talking about this kind of thing.

Link called Rhett the next morning to say that he couldn’t pick him up before coming to the studio. Lando had gotten a cold and Christy was busy. He had to watch him until she finished what she was working on.

So, for once, Rhett took his time getting ready for work. After a while, he decided to head over to the office to check if there needed to be any work done before that morning’s taping. As he entered, all of the interns were sitting around a table in the kitchenette. “Hey, guys!” he said in a cheery tone.

“Hey, man!” Jason called back. “Where’s Link?”

“Oh, Lando’s sick. He’ll be here soon. He’s just waiting for Christy to finish up something.”

“Aw, poor thing!” Jen squealed.

“Link or Lando?” Stevie asked.

Everyone laughed. The group’s conversation switched topics left and right, but no matter what they were discussing, the room was always filled with boisterous laughter. After about an hour, they began getting restless while waiting for Link to show up. “Why don’t you try calling him?” Jason suggested.

“Alright.” Rhett pulled out his phone and pressed on Link’s name in his list of contacts. It rang for a while before going to voicemail. “No answer,” he said, putting it away. “He’s probably on his way now.” Link was always great about not talking or texting while driving.

“Cool.”

Rhett suddenly remembered that the day’s topic was ESP. He couldn’t wait for Link to show up so they could get started. He always loved when they did these little experiments. They both did. He was already convinced that their brains were connected and that sending and receiving messages would be no problem.

“Where the fuck is he?” Stevie asked, growing incredibly impatient. It wasn’t like her to speak in this tone.

Rhett glanced at the clock. It had been two and a half hours, and still no sign of his friend. “I’ll call his house,” he said. “He probably doesn’t have his phone with him if he’s hovering over Lando.”

Dialing Link’s house phone, it was soon answered by Christy. “Rhett, hi!” she said in her cheery southern accent. “Why are you calling?”

“Is Link almost ready to drive down here? Everyone’s getting pretty antsy.”

“Um, Rhett? He left an hour ago…”

There was silence on both ends for what felt like an eternity. Sure, Los Angeles had notoriously bad traffic, but it was more or less impossible for it to take a whole hour to drive from Link’s house to the studio. “Oh. Alright. There must’ve been an accident or something. See ya later, Christy.”

“Bye, Rhett.”

“So, he left already?” Jen asked.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s turn on the news. Maybe they’re talking about it.”

“Oh, good idea!”

Ben turned on the television and the group all sat in a semi-circle around it. Sure enough, a graphic on the screen read in big bold letters, “DEADLY CRASH ON THE 405!”

“Oh, shit,” Stevie gasped. “Look at how backed up traffic is! There’s no way he’s going to make it here for at LEAST another hour or two.”

“No kidding,” Jason sighed.

Rhett slowly stood, feeling like he was about to throw up. He was imagining what he was seeing, right? That wasn’t really Link’s car flipped over and torn to shreds… The car that he was supposed to be in… Pieces of metal were thrown left and right, littering all three lanes of traffic. It was almost impossible to tell that the machine was a car at all. There was an ambulance, fire truck, and multiple police officers at the scene, and he could clearly make out a stretcher—with a bloody sheet over it. And was that a cream-colored Mythical Shoe on the ground?

“Rhett, are you okay, man?” Ben asked.

He was trembling. He raised a shaky hand and pointed at the screen. “That’s… That’s… Oh my God.” The giant man could barely breathe, let alone speak.

Jen rose hesitantly next to Rhett as she picked up on what he had seen. “There’s no way,” she mumbled. “Lots of people drive that kind of car.” She was trying to sound like she was confident in what she was saying, but her tone proved otherwise.

The newscaster’s voice came through the speakers. “We’re told that the crash was caused by some sort of an object in the path of the speeding vehicle, which the driver apparently tried to avoid, causing them to crash into the barrier.”

“Fuck,” the rest of the group said simultaneously.

“Rhett, call Christy,” Jason said, not taking his eyes off of the screen.

He grabbed his phone again and called. “Did he make it to work okay?” she asked, the sound of the hyper children running around apparent in the background.

“Turn on the news.” His voice was heavy.

“Rhett, I’m kind of busy, here.”

“Turn it on, Christy! NOW!”

She was silent for a moment before letting out a small squeak, “Okay. I’ll—“

“Don’t hang up the fucking phone.”

“Rhett, what’s going on?” she asked.

“Did you turn on the news?”

“I’m trying to…”

“Hurry up.”

Just as Christy began to speak again, the newscaster’s voice filled everyone’s ears. “New information has been released. The man driving the car was Charles Neal. There were no other passengers, and miraculously, no other vehicles were involved. Further information will be released as we get it.”

Stevie and Jen both shrieked. Rhett had to sit down, feeling as if his legs were about to give out. That was bullshit. There was nothing ‘miraculous’ about it. He wouldn’t be feeling any worse if 3 other people had died. Sure, that made him sound like an asshole, but it was true.

“Christy?” Rhett croaked into his phone. “Are you there?”

He didn’t hear her voice, but instead a quiet whimpering. Looking around the studio, Rhett noticed everyone had inched closer to each other and were now resting heads on shoulders and hands on legs. There were a lot of tears. Rhett, on the other hand, was in too much shock to have any reaction whatsoever. He had never been in a room filled with this much emotion. It was beyond overwhelming.

“Fucking hell,” Jason mumbled. “The day after we talked about Link dying…”

Jen started crying even louder, and Jason pulled her into a tight embrace. Stevie began to rub her back in soft, soothing circles, although her face was just as wet.

“Mommy?” a soft voice came from the other end of the phone.

“Christy?” Rhett asked again. No answer. He pulled his phone back to look at the screen and saw that she had hung up. “What do we do?” he asked, voice raspy.

“What do you want to do?”

“We need to… We need to let the Beasts know.”

“Rhett, don’t you think we should hold off on that?”

“No. We’re all here. All of the equipment is set up. Let’s just do it now.”

“Alright,” Jason said, standing up. “How do you want to do this?”

Taking charge, Rhett said in a commanding tone, “Okay. I’ll sit at our desk in the middle, and all of you guys sit behind me.”

“Okay,” they all agreed.

Ben started rolling. He immediately ran back to join the rest of the group.

When Rhett glanced over at the screen, all he saw were bright red, damp, pained faces. He couldn’t imagine how confused everyone who would see this would soon be. “Hello, Mythical Beasts,” Rhett began, clearing his throat. “I… I don’t know what to say. We just turned on the camera without thinking about anything.”

Stevie burst into tears once again, leaning in to Ben’s arms. “Sorry,” she squeaked.

“If you live in the area, you may have seen this on the news, but…” Rhett took in a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say. He swallowed hard. “Link… Link’s…dead. He got into a horrible car accident on the way to the studio this morning, and…” Rhett couldn’t continue. He stood, violently knocking the chair over as he stormed off.

Jason took over. “We’re not sure what’s going to happen from here. We just found out about 10 minutes ago. We’ll keep all of you updated, but… We’re sosorry.”

Rhett could be seen banging his fists against one of the walls. It was hours before the tears had completely stopped. Nobody wanted to leave the studio and their grieving friends, but it was inevitable. Rhett especially needed to go, as he had to comfort his friend’s wife, children, and his own family.

*~*~*~*~*

Anyone who was even slightly close to Link was there, filing into the church on the day of his funeral. Rhett struggled to sit through the service without making a complete fool out of himself. He felt horrible already, but felt even worse when he saw Lando. The boy was sitting on his mother’s lap coloring in a book, too young to understand what was happening. Without warning, Rhett was called up to speak in front of the mourners.

“I don’t know what to say,” he mumbled, microphone screeching. He ran his fingers through his stiff hair. “Link Neal was… He was always my best friend. We’ve never left each other’s side. When he wasn’t there, I wasn’t myself. I…” A tear fell as he tried to contain his emotions and continue his speech. “I don’t know where I’ll be a week from now. Tomorrow, even. Everything I’ve ever done, I did with him. I don’t know what I’m going to do…” He realized that he needed to wrap everything up or else he’d start scaring his children.

Part of Rhett felt stupid for thinking this, but he was upset that none of what Link said he wanted in that fateful GMMore was provided. Before everyone filed out of the building, they walked up to the (closed) coffin one by one saying their goodbyes. Rhett went last. He stood towering over the long, thin box containing the cold, mangled body of his lifelong best friend and lover, who he would never see again. He knew that Link had always wanted an open casket, but the fact that he was so torn up in the accident made that impossible. Rhett was thankful that the last time he had seen Link, they were both happy and weren’t fighting like brothers over something completely ridiculous. “Sorry I didn’t bring any apples, buddy,” he whispered, voice shaky. “I don’t think anybody’s gonna let me throw you off of a waterfall, either…” Just as a tear began to slide down his cheek, he felt a cold breeze against the back of his neck. He turned around, but there was nobody there. “Air conditioning,” he thought. He didn’t want to leave Link’s side. He craved one last kiss—one last fling. But it was over. It wasall over. He’d never again feel Link’s gentle, child-like embrace…the embrace that filled his heart with joy no matter what was going on in his life. Rhett honestly wondered how long he could survive without Link by his side.

The massive group of mourners stayed for the burial. There were many tears, many hugs, and many prayers. For Rhett, time was meaningless. He was caught off guard when a gentle hand was placed on his lower back. He looked down to see Christy holding a pair of shattered glasses out for him to take. “Christy, I can’t take those,” he sighed.

“You know what they always say: eyes are the windows to the soul. I don’t know what that would make his glasses. I heard him on the phone and he wants you to have them, so they’re yours.”

Rhett was about to argue, but she shoved them in his pocket and walked away. That was when he saw that everyone was gone. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Jessie had texted him. “Took the kids home. Thought you needed some time alone with Link. xo”

Rhett was incredibly grateful for this, although he didn’t know what to do with himself. He was lost without Link. As he stood shivering in the chilly autumn air, he spotted something across the street: Denny’s. A twisted smile spread across his face as he thought back to GMMore. Link had said that he wanted everyone go to Denny’s and ‘live it up.’ So, if that’s what Link wanted, that’s what he’d do…even if he had been kidding when he said it.

Rhett slid into the booth in the far back corner of the restaurant. When a waitress came around to take his order, he shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”

“Sir, if you’re not going to order anything, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

He sighed. He wasn’t going to be able to eat anything, but he could stand for a drink. “Some orange juice, then, please?”

The woman nodded and headed off. Rhett spent ages staring at the empty seat in front of him. After sipping on his juice for a bit, he pulled Link’s glasses out of his pocket. Staring through the broken lenses, he imagined the other man’s eyes staring back at him. Memories of Rhett slipping these glasses off of his lover before their secret flings came rushing back into his mind. What Christy had said was right: eyes were the windows to the soul. And these glasses were what helped those eyes to see. Rhett raised his hands up so that the glasses were at Link’s eye-level. “Link,” Rhett sighed breathlessly.

After paying for his drink, he made a quick visit to the nearest grocery to buy a granny smith apple. As he walked outside, he took one enormous bite out of it. In honor of Link, he made sure he chewed 30 times before swallowing. He decided that he would head back to the burial site. In their conversation, they had concluded that everyone would place an apple with a bite taken out of it around Link’s face. Clearly, that was impossible, but Rhett could still put the fruit on the mound of dirt above him.

He bit his lip so hard he thought he might draw blood. “Link’s under there,” he whispered to himself, looking at the grass below his feet. He rolled the apple around in his hands a few times before gently setting it against the headstone. “Charles Lincoln Neal III,” it read. “Father, Husband, Friend. RIP.” “I’ll be with you,” he whispered, “sooner or later.”

He was halfway to the street when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to check the message, but the name on the screen sent him into a rage. Link’s name had popped up. Somebody was texting him through Link’s phone. Did they think this was funny!? He opened the message to send an angry text in response, but when he actually read the text from “Link,” it sent a chill down his spine.

“Thanks for the apple.”

Rhett spun around. “WHO STOLE HIS FUCKING PHONE?” he shouted into the distance. Somebody had obviously been watching him, although there was nobody in sight.

He kicked the ground with fury before turning around once more and heading away from the area. He sat on a bench a few blocks away in order to call a cab. Suddenly, there was the familiar feeling of fingers running through his hair. He looked around, but once again, nobody was there. He shook his head. It was becoming more and more apparent that he was losing his mind. Being the logical man that he was, he knew that this was just part of his mourning process. This was just his mind’s way of getting past the fact that he’d never feel Link’s touch again.

Once home, he headed immediately for his bedroom. Jessie was lying on the bed. “Honey, come here.” Her voice was soft—concerned.

“Do you mind if I stay at a hotel tonight?”

“What? Why?”

“I need some time alone, baby. I’m going insane, and I really don’t want the boys to see me like this. I need to be strong for them.”

“Are you sure you don’t want—“

“I need to be alone.”

“Alright. It’s okay. I understand.”

“Thanks.” He kissed her gently and packed a small bag full of clothes.

Lying in the hard, uncomfortable bed in his tiny hotel room, Rhett let his eyes close. He felt the invisible fingers in his hair once more. His eyes opened slowly and he saw a small indentation on the edge of the bed. He sat up, his tired eyes widening in shock. He was hallucinating, right? He had to be. The television turned on, the volume blaring. He leapt forward to grab the remote, hitting mute. “No fucking way,” he whispered. There was a commercial for Tootsie Rolls on. He hadn’t seen one of those in years… He shook his head in disbelief. Once the commercial was over, he turned the television off. He didn’t want to believe it, but he began to think about the possibility of Link being in the room with him. “Link?” he whispered into the dark room, voice cracking.

The room grew colder—cold enough for him to have goose-bumps. The man gasped when he felt a light pressure on his shoulder, sending shivers down his spine. “Rheeeetttttt.” It almost sounded like wind blowing past his ear, but the windows were all closed, and the air conditioning was off. Terrified, his heart was beating a mile a minute. Tears began to well in his eyes.

“Link, is that you?” he asked. “If it’s you, prove it!”

The music on his phone began playing, and he immediately recognized the song: Merle Haggard’s “A Friend in California.” At that exact moment, the glasses that he had placed on his bedside table rose off of their perch and floated in place, before dropping suddenly onto the carpet. Rhett’s jaw dropped in utter shock. Link was clearly in the room with him. There was no way he was imagining this.

When he turned off the music, it was like a switch was turned on in his brain. Suddenly, he wasn’t sad. He wasn’t hurting. He wasn’t lonely. A warmth filled his chest. He was about to start crying, but this time not from grief. Lying down in the hard bed, he immediately felt something plastered up against him. He knew exactly who it was. Link was cuddling with him. As he was just about to slip into the dream world, his phone lit up the entire room, blinding him. He picked it up. Again, a text from Link’s phone was on the screen. He swiped the screen to read it. “I said I’d always be next to you.”

Rhett turned around, looking in the direction where he sensed Link’s presence. He turned back to his phone and typed, “Always?”

“I’m here now, aren’t I?” He immediately burst into tears. Was he seriously communicating to Link’s spirit through text? “Don’t cry.” 

Rhett set his phone down in front of him, deciding to use it as a sort of Ouija board. If Link was really here, why did he have to type? “Link, are you okay? Did it hurt? Where are you?”

“I’m perfect, Rhett. It didn’t hurt at all.” He sighed. How was this happening? “I’m right here, just not in the physical plane.”

“Why aren’t you…in heaven?”

“I couldn’t leave you.”

“But—“ 

“Shut up.” This text came through before Rhett could even begin asking his question.

“What’s it like?”

“Weird.”

“Do you miss—“

“I miss your touch, but at least I can touch you. You can feel it, right?”

There was a cold, soft pressure on his chest. “I can feel it,” he mumbled with a nod.

“Good. Aoz%u9s”

“Wait, what? Link, what are you trying to say?”

“ry d7 n”

“Link! Are you okay?” Rhett felt as if he were about to have a heart attack. His friend was clearly losing his…well, Rhett didn’t know what he was losing, but he was clearly losing something. Energy, maybe.

There were no notifications on his phone for the longest time. He was unable to look away from the screen, just in case another text came through. He jumped in shock when he felt what he could only assume to be Link’s lips press up against his cheek. A text finally flashed across his phone. “You’re tired. Sleep.”

“But—“

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Rhett sighed and laid down, resting his head on the hard pillow. He felt a disembodied arm wrap around his waist. “Link, I love you.”

“Shut up and sleep.”

“No! If I do that, then I won’t be able to talk to you…” A heavy pressure immediately came over his entire body. He was scared at first, but then he realized that it was Link doing the “I’m dead” move from their childhood. It always ended fights between the two. Rhett’s tears came back in full force. “Link, this isn’t fucking funny.” Nothing happened. “Fine, I get it!” The man laughed between sobs. The pressure immediately dissipated. Link was still the same old twerp, even in the afterlife.

“I’ll be in your dreams.”

“Really?”

There was no text this time, but instead, he heard a breathy, “mmmhmmm,” drift through the air, so quiet that it was barely there.

“Will I be able to be there with you one day?” Rhett asked, hoping that he would be able to be with Link AND see him.

“Not for a long time.” Link’s spirit was silent after that. Rhett assumed that he was ignoring him so he’d go to sleep. He smiled in relief. It was definitely weird, but he was happy…truly content. Link was still with him and they were still able to communicate with each other. Although he needed to keep this new situation secret, at least he knew that his best friend was always there by his side. They had always claimed to be life-long best friends, but this experience proved that they were more than that. There was no such thing as “’til death do us part.’ Nothing, not even a fatal car accident, could keep these men from each other. Soon enough, Rhett’s eyes gently fluttered closed. As soon as he drifted off to sleep, there was another text. The last one of the night read, “And don’t worry about the waterfall thing.”


End file.
